We have a date: 49ers will meet Falcons in NFC Championship Game

Matt Ryan threw for 250 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions against Seattle. (AP)

In an improbable game with an array of you’ve-got-be-kidding twists and turns, Atlanta blew a 20-point, fourth-quarter lead, trailed by a point with 34 seconds left and beat the visiting Seahawks, 30-28, today on Matt Bryant’s 49-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining.

With the win, Atlanta advanced to the NFC Championship Game, where it will host San Francisco at noon Sunday in the Georgia Dome.

The top-seeded Falcons improved to 14-3, but who would classify them as the NFC’s best team remaining after the curtain closed on the conference’s divisional-playoff games?

Not Las Vegas: The 49ers have been installed as three-point road favorites.

The showdown will give the 49ers another opportunity to knock off one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks as they will face Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, who finished fifth in the NFL with a 99.1 rating. San Francisco went 5-1 against quarterbacks rated among the league’s top 10 this season. The 49ers beat Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers (2-0), New Orleans’ Drew Brees (1-0) New England’s Tom Brady (1-0) while splitting with Seattle’s Russell Wilson (1-1).

The 49ers were beaten this season by teams that established some semblance of offensive balance. They were 1-3-1 against the teams that ran for more than 100 yards. Heartening news for 49ers fans: The Falcons ranked 29th in the NFL in rushing (87.3 yards a game), although running backs Michael Turner and Jacquizz Rodgers combined for 162 yards on 24 carries against Seattle.

Other notes:

** The Packers were helpless to stop Colin Kaepernick and the read option.

The Falcons got a taste of that today with Wilson, who had 60 yards on seven carries and threw for 385 yards and two touchdowns.

A key injury to monitor: Atlanta defensive end John Abraham, a four-time Pro Bowler, did not return after leaving in the first half with an ankle injury he sustained in the regular-season finale on Dec. 30.

** A major storyline will be 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman, coming off a virtuoso performance against the Packers, matching wits against Falcons defensive coordinator and former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan.

Nolan has received high marks for his work with the Falcons, but his hopes to land his next head-coaching gig weren’t bolstered today. Seattle stormed back from a 20-0 halftime deficit with 298 yards, 18 first downs and four touchdowns in the second half.

** The 49ers will be seeking their first road playoff win since a 28-3 victory over Chicago on Jan. 8, 1989. San Francisco has lost five straight road postseason games.